Atkins' Murder Case Delayed

Attorneys To Petition Court

YORK — While a new trial to determine mental status had been set for Aug. 13, hearings are delayed indefinitely in York.

Last June, the Virginia Supreme Court sent Daryl Atkins' capital murder case back to York County, ordering the Circuit Court to hold new proceedings on whether Atkins was mentally retarded.

Now, the higher court may be dealing with the Atkins case again, following a jurisdictional issue brought up at a hearing last week.

As of Thursday, all hearings have been delayed indefinitely in York County, according to the circuit court clerk's office. No new dates for the case have been set.

"All the Atkins proceedings at this point -- including the trial in August -- have been continued," York-Poquoson Commonwealth's Attorney Eileen Addison said.

In 1998, Atkins was convicted and sentenced to death in York County for the 1996 killing of 21-year-old Langley Airman Eric Nesbitt. He appealed, and his case went all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, resulting in a 2002 ruling that executing mentally retarded people was unconstitutionally cruel.

The case was then sent back to Virg inia, where a jury decided in 2005 that Atkins was not mentally retarded and could be executed.

His attorneys appealed, and the state Supreme Court sent the case back again, citing errors made in the trial.

Atkins' new trial to determine his mental status had been set for Aug. 13. But during a hearing last week, his attorneys alleged prosecutors withheld information during his first trial in 1998.

Defense attorneys Joseph Migliozzi and Richard Parker said they never received information from an interview with co-defendant William A. Jones, who testified against Atkins in exchange for a sentence of life in prison.

Judge Prentis Smiley asked both sides last week to submit briefs about whether the court has the jurisdiction to hear the motion about prosecutor misconduct.

The defense now plans to petitition the state Supreme Court about that motion. Addison said it's up to the state Supreme Court to grant or deny the petition.

A court order detailing the petition and status of the case is being prepared and should be entered soon, attorneys and court officials said. *